Defra launches £14 million research fund to accelerate farming innovation

Stock photo for illustration purposes only.

The new research and feasibility competitions are open to farmers, growers, foresters, research organisations and businesses involved in agriculture and encourage collaboration on novel ideas and solutions addressing the most pressing challenges in farming.

Previous rounds have led to investment in automation to improve soft fruit yield; a ‘herd’ of lightweight, battery-operated, asparagus-harvesting robots; and the use of ultraviolet as a disinfectant in the dairy and poultry sectors.

Farming minister Mark Spencer said the competitions are aimed at promoting collaboration between farmers, research organisations and other industry stakeholders to help bring ground-breaking ideas to life.

“The success of the previous competition rounds and the broad scope of ideas coming forward showcase the range of possibilities available for driving up productivity and solving some of the industry’s biggest challenges. I encourage everyone to take a look at what’s on offer in the latest competitions and apply,” the minister said.

Guidance is now available for the third round of the Small R&D Partnerships competition, which seeks to help businesses develop a new farming product or service and take it to commercialisation on the open market.

Worth almost £10 million, it has been developed in partnership with the Transforming Food Production Challenge and is delivered by Innovate UK. Applications for the competition will be accepted starting from 14^th August.

Projects that received funding in the second round of the competition include studies exploring how to breed sheep with a naturally low carbon footprint and looking at renewable energy sources for powering operational processes on soft fruit farms such as automated picking, sensors and vehicles.

This comes alongside the third round of the Feasibility Studies competition, offering businesses and researchers £4.5 million to assess whether a new idea works in practice and decide whether further investment can be justified.

The competition looks for early-stage solutions that have the potential to substantially improve the overall productivity, sustainability and resilience of farming, and will open for applications on 18^th September.

Successful applicants in previous rounds include a study to identify fungal strains that can help fight against insect and fungal pests in wheat crops, reducing the costs associated with multiple applications of chemical pesticides, mechanical damage from repeated spray applications and crop yield losses.

Guidance for both competitions can be found on the gov.uk website and those interested are encouraged to read this ahead of applications opening.

Dr Katrina Hayter, executive director for the Healthy Living and Agriculture Domain at Innovate UK, said: “We look forward to supporting the next round of applicants and identifying promising partnerships that hold the potential to address the sustainability, efficiency, and net zero challenges confronting the UK’s agrifood industry.

“Feasibility studies mark the initial stage in researching an idea that could improve farming, while small R&D partnerships are a vital step to empowering businesses to forge novel farming products and services, paving the way towards successful commercialisation.”